Diverse Book: Melissa (George) by Alex Gino

George, which has since been renamed to Melissa, is a book written by genderqueer author Alex Gino in 2015. The story follows a young boy, George, who refers to himself as a female and uses she/her pronouns in secret. She identifies as transgender, though no one closest to her knows this. The story follows her struggles with her identity, emotional turmoil, and relentless bullying from classmates. She ultimately finds the courage to tell her best friend, Kelly, about her true identity, and Kelly is incredibly supportive. She also eventually tells her mother, who is dismissive of her feelings, and her brother, Scott, who offers to help her reveal her identity. Kelly is perhaps the most supportive, and she gives up her role as Charlotte in the school play, Charlotte's Web, so that Melissa can show her true self to the school and her family. Her mom ends up coming around in the end, and she supports her daughter in who she is. Melissa is finally able to be herself, and she and Kelly enjoy a day at the zoo, with Melissa wearing some of Kelly's clothing and fully presenting herself as the girl she knows she is. 

While I did not read this book growing up, I think it would have been incredibly beneficial to have growing up. My husband's younger sibling is transgender, and they have struggled with their identity for as long as I have known them. They kept their identity a secret from everyone until they finally found the strength to share their true self with the world after finding encouragement from various forms of media. Reading this book made me think of them, as I think it would have been incredibly beneficial for them to have a book like this to read as they were growing up. I've seen this book be recommended for ages 8 - 12 years old, and that seems just about when they started having struggles with their identity. The LGBTQ+ community is still considered a diverse community, and having a title such as this in available in the library would have a positive impact on students who are going through the same struggles. One part of the story focused on Melissa realizing that her principal was accepting of transgender people because of a poster on the wall, and I hope that students seeing this title available in a library would give the same effect. I also think that renaming the book was a fantastic idea, and it promotes using a person's chosen name rather than their deadname. This is something that I know people struggle with, and the recognition of renaming the book just as the character renamed themselves is symbolic in a way! 

Aside from being helpful to either students struggling with their own identities or those who may already know their identity, a title like this could also be helpful to students who still identify with their natural born gender. Reading about others' struggles can open students' eyes to issues that they may not have been previously exposed to. While I am not transgender myself, I do see a benefit in reading about what life is like for people who are. I feel as though it helps me to better understand what they may be going through and how I can be a helpful and supportive side character in their story. I hope other students would feel the same, and I would urge them to take a chance in reading this book to gain a better understanding of what a young, transgender student may be going through.

Overall, I would recommend a teacher or librarian to have this book available in their classroom or library. I think it's a wonderful way of promoting diversity that tends to be overlooked in the classroom! It's also an incredibly sweet story that touches on other aspects of a young child's life, including family relationships, friendships, and bullying. It was a wonderful, heartfelt read that would be a great, inclusive addition. 

Award Winning Book: Holes by Louis Sachar

 One of the most influential books I've read during my time as a student was Holes by Louis Sachar. This book was assigned to me in my fourth grade class. My teacher had us read one chapter at a time and provided assignments or monitored discussions based on what we had read. Despite being assigned single chapters for homework, I read through the entire book in a matter of days. This was one of the books that I had to sneakily read under the covers in the middle of the night with a flashlight as my only light source. Reading it again as an adult and with the intention of including it in a library, I felt the same thrill. 

Holes is a novel written by Louis Sachar and published in 1998. It won two awards: the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 1998 and the Newbery Medal in 1999. The story follows a young boy, Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake after being mistakenly convicted of theft. This correctional camp is unlike any other; the boys are forced to dig holes that are six feet deep and six feet wide. The story goes back and forth between multiple stories that all intertwine. Elya Yelnats, an ancestor of Stanley, follows the instructions of Madame Zeroni, a fortune teller with a missing foot, in order to win the affection of the most beautiful girl in the village and the approval of her father. He fails to follow the instructions properly, and a curse is placed on his family. This curse continues to affect his descendants, including Stanley. Stanley's story also ties into the story of Kissin' Kate Barlow, an outlaw who was exiled for loving an African-American farmer. Stanley is ultimately able to break the curse by carrying Zero, who is Madame Zeroni's great-great-great-grandson, up the mountain that Elya initially climbed. Camp Green Lake is also shut down by the attorney general, and the story ends. 

This has always been an incredibly interesting title to me because it hits so many important themes in such a short amount of time. Sachar was able to touch on labor laws, friendship, masculinity, and racism in each story that connects and makes up the entire book. Reading this as a young girl, I was touched most by the story of Kissin' Kate Barlow. I was lucky enough to grow up in a world where the skin color of two people in love did not matter, and this was an early example of one of the first times I was introduced to it as an issue. I couldn't imagine being exiled from my town just for loving someone, and I was incredibly touched that Kaye Barlow held onto that love she felt for Sam throughout the rest of her life. I also found myself touched by Stanley and Zero's friendship. They became friends incredibly quickly, and Stanley had no issue coming to Zero's aid when he needed help the most. He carried him up the mountain thanks to his own selflessness, and he was rewarded with breaking the family curse. Even after finding the suitcase and discovering that it belonged to him, he insisted on sharing it with Zero and ensuring he was also released from the camp prior to its shut down. I was in awe at how easy it was for him to drop everything to help a brand new friend, and as a child, it helped me look at my own friendships in new ways. 

Another reason I appreciate this book, looking at it through the lens of an educator, is because it's so easy to create lesson plans around. Each theme mentioned could be its own lesson, and my teacher used these to formulate class discussions. We talked about racism and friendship for the most part, and we were also able to expand on folklore and the differences and similarities between masculinity and femininity. Our big project at the end was to create a trunk with props that represented important moments in the story in chronological order. It helped us to put all the events from each story in order, and it was a great lesson not only in story comprehension, but story telling as well. It also drew in aspects of our art class, as each prop was handmade to represent a certain aspect of the story. My favorite prop I made was a fake onion using a Styrofoam ball, felt, and fabric paint! 

Overall, I firmly believe Holes is a fundamental addition to any young reader's library. Even if it is not being assigned in a classroom setting, having it available for children to pick up and explore on their own is still a way of introducing young students to difficult themes. I was able to pick up on some of them during my own reading, but having a teacher's guidance throughout the reading process was definitely helpful. The writing style was also very easy to follow as a fourth grader, and I had no issue flying through the book in just a few short nights. This is a fantastic recommendation for teachers and librarians if you're looking for a title that is easy to read, yet still hits some fantastically important lessons.